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Group wants to rename City Hall LRT stop for slain officer

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August 13, 2002 // UPDATED 1:29 pm - April 30, 2007

By: Scott Russell

Scott Russell

Residents of an Uptown-area neighborhood that used to work with slain police officer Melissa Schmidt are asking city leaders to consider naming the light-rail transit station in front of City Hall, 350 S. 5th St., in her honor.

"We believe the proximity next to City Hall would have maximum exposure, and it would be a befitting location for a memorial to a city hero who died in the line of duty protecting citizens of Minneapolis," wrote members of the Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (CARAG).

The group is sending their resolution to Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Council members.

Schmidt used to work as a SAFE Officer in the CARAG neighborhood, which is bounded by Lake Street, Lyndale Avenue, West 36th Street and Hennepin Avenue. She was shot and killed Aug. 1 at Horn Towers, 31st Street and Blaisdell Avenue, where she worked as part of the Minneapolis Public Housing police.

Naming Downtown structures for murdered police officers has a precedent: the city-owned Jerry Haaf Parking Ramp, 414 S. 4th St., was named for the last Minneapolis officer killed before Schmidt. Haaf was slain in 1992.

CARAG residents also talked about finding another site for a neighborhood-based memorial to Schmidt.